President Trump talks to Apple CEO Tim Cook during the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board's first meeting in the State Dining Room of the White House last week. (Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP)

President Trump claimed Monday he was simply trying to “save time & words” by botching Apple CEO Tim Cook’s name during a recent round table talk at the White House.

“Long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words,” Trump tweeted. “The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!”

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Trump’s belated defense prompted renewed ridicule.

“Everyone already saw the video where Trump called him Tim Apple and didn’t even know his name was Tim Cook,” Twitter user Eugene Gu posted. “Trying to save face by lying about it on Twitter just makes it much worse when everyone pretty much moved on from it.”

A barrage of sarcasm was unleashed over social media after Trump called Cook “Tim Apple” during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House on Wednesday.